Finding Krissi

It turns out that I'm kind of a during person. Meaning I don't really remember to do something before, I remember to do it during. Which is kind of anti climatic when I am showing you a home improvement project. Everyone knows half the fun of improving something is seeing the before and then the after. However, you just get the during. Mainly because I get so excited to start the project that I just skip the before. Then after all the destruction is done I start snapping away. Our latest project has been to refurbish the banister for the basement stairs. Our house is 23 years old and the banister is original to the house. It was an okay banister and it was in okay shape. It had been badly stained in the beginning and was a little wobbly other then that it was fine. However, I wanted to clean it up and take it up a notch. So I put the handy husband to work. Which meant he had to take the whole thing out and take it all apart. Which left our stair case looking like this for ab...

I don't know about your household but this household is in major penny pinching mode. It has a little to do with the economy and a lot to do with the four growing children. They need stuff. They need stuff all the time. They almost always insist on being fed. There are days that the only thing my 12 year old says to me is, "What's for dinner." I highly suspect saying, "Dinner, no dinner tonight" would not go over well. Then they need things like glasses and shoes and school clothes and school fees and... Well you get the picture. I wonder whose brilliant idea it was to have four children? Well what is done is done and we are really learning to the best of our abilities to save money where we can. Part of that money saving is buying certain household items like toilet paper, laundry soap and dish soap in bulk. In fact until recently Costco sold a huge bucket of dishwasher soap for a very reasonable price. Then one day I went to buy it and they didn't ha...

In the latest financial news, "The Tooth Fairy," has just filed for bankruptcy. She claims that the loss of teeth has become so great that she is no longer able to keep up. When asked why the sudden filing she sites the loss of teeth in one household being the proverbial straw. Over the course of one week she visited the home 4 times and most nights it was not one pillow but two or three. She says, "8, 8 teeth in one week, if I didn't know any better I would suspect that parents, struggling in this financial market, have now turned to their children's teeth as a resource." President Obama, when hearing the news of The Tooth Fairies bankruptcy, pledged his support and is currently having a Obama Tooth Fairy Dollar Minted. Not to be outdone by the US all world leaders are promising similar support. The Tooth Fairy was overwhelmed with the support however a close friend the Easter Bunny reports, "While not happy with having to file for bankruptcy she d...

You know how all winter I curse Mother Nature? I make all kinds of threats and let the whole world know how much I despise Mother Nature. Just thought you should know that there are times that she is pretty much my favorite person. Her and I have a real love hate relationship.

A couple of weeks ago I posted a picture of a robin's nest full of little blue eggs. Since then we have heard the little chirps and squeaks of baby birds. We have also watched as Momma and Poppa flew in out of the nest with worms. It has been kind of cool observing the diligent parenting of wild life. A couple of nights ago we were outside and I have to admit trying to get a closer look at the nest happenings. When suddenly momma and poppa began to nose dive and warn us that we were to close. In the process of the commotion two little ones took their first flight out of the nest. Filled with guilt that we caused the early eviction of two little birds, who were not quite ready to be on their own, we tried to figure out how to get them back in the nest. We knew that we couldn't touch the birds or Momma would have nothing to do with them. We watched as the two little birds twitted and jumped around the front yard. They could get a couple feet off the ground but there was no wa...

I don't know about y'all but I have about had it with reality TV. Starting with the fact that there really isn't that much reality happening on reality TV. Ending with the fact that nothing truly productive or worthwhile seems to happen on reality TV. In fact the opposite seems to happen including the destruction of families. Maybe you think I am over reacting to Jon and Kate's big announcement and yes it was billed and advertised and marketed as their "big announcement," of divorce. WELL DUHH!! Did we not see that happen did we not watch as two people who obviously cared for each other started to like each other less and less. Honestly, anyone who watches that show just watched a family fall apart. I don't know about you but I don't think that is entertainment I think that is sad. Meanwhile, my sons and I were only members of the household who refused to watch Jon and Kate's big announcement last night. With all my heart I wanted them to say the...

Today was the first day of a new swim session my very first class is the itty bitties. These are little 3 and 4 year olds who have never taken swim lessons. They are usually very adorable and very scared. They are so timid and they all stand there and look at you like you are the big bad wolf. Well in away you are you are the one that is going to make them get in the water. In their mind they have no idea what other kind of torture you have in mind. They all watch you and make sure that you don't do anything sudden. Sometimes they watch me so closely it makes me want to yell. "BOO!" But then I know they will all go running for their moms and that would make me a very very bad swim teacher. But we have already covered that I have a not so nice streak at times. This little class was typical they all stood there staring at me just waiting to see what horrible thing I had planned. When I told them to slide into the pool they all slid in with a look in their eyes that sa...

Back to work tomorrow for the second session of the summer. My fingers are crossed that after a week and a half of battling illness that my family is all better. We can't keep being sick we have a summer to enjoy. All though to be honest we don't have any major plans. Our plans consist mainly of relaxing as much as possible. I am finding that this isn't as easy as it once was. The two older kids are busy, busy, busy. They are both swimming 3-5 days a week, participating in swim meets and participating in Jr. Life Guards. I am starting to think that S.'s participation in Jr. Life Guards is more for her social life than an opportunity to learn some life guard skills. However, I have discovered how awesome it is to have her little brother hang with her. It is GREAT how much he lets me know. :) The younger two are also jumping into the pool but mainly they are enjoying the freedom of summer. We are anxiously awaiting summer weather. It has yet to warm up to the point t...

Any one who reads this blog knows that I have a very handy husband. Which I have to admit is, well, handy. (It is nice to know that at least I think I am funny, right?) There is one little draw back to my handy husband. He does not like to go to the hardware store alone. He insist on company, bored, incompetent company, is better in his book than no company. I have tried many a ways to squirm out of the hardware store. He continues to persist in the insistence that I go with him. I have no idea why. Below is a conversation that we have all the time. Brent: I need to pick up some bolts at the hardware store. Me: Okay, I will see you when you get back. Brent: You need to come with me. Me: (Knowing that I can resist but resistance is futile) Okay (said in such a way to let him know it is anything but okay) At the Hardware store: Me: (Leaning on the cart in the bolt aisle wondering why there is a whole entire aisle dedicated to bolts. Thinking I would hate to be the employee responsible fo...

I was getting ready to post a post and I noticed that this would be my 300th post. In just a little over 14 months I have rambled on 300 times. That is a bit crazy. Okay, this is me we are talking about so it is way crazy. My life is defiantly not interesting enough to fill up 300 post with profound, interesting words of wisdom. Let me apologize now for all the bad post you have read through. Perhaps even a few of the crazy lady post you have read through. Now, I am really thinking about it I should probably apologize for all the times I went on and on and on about: My Kids Rants Soccer My Kids Swimming Gardening My Kids Teaching Swim Lessons My Crazy Kids Asking Crazy Questions Winter Rants and Tantrums about Winter Home Improvement Projects (Man, you all should see what Brent is doing now. I love IT!) Riding in a 103.5 mile Bike Ride I guess more than anything you have had to put up with lots and lots of rambling. It is so nice of you all to indulge me. Maybe sometime in the next 30...

While in the midst of the the 24 hour flu I came up with a brilliant post. It flowed through me with pure brilliance. I know it was an excellent post the pink elephants told me it was brilliant. The drum line that had pounded out one drum cadence after the other inside my head told me it was brilliant. The problem is that now the fever has disappeared, the pink elephants have gone and the drum line quit beating away I can't remember a word of this brilliant post. Maybe it wasn't that brilliant I don't really know how much I should trust pink elephants anyway. I guess I will just have to think up another post. One that isn't thought up in the midst of a fever, chills, and pounding headache. Given those conditions I again might have to question the brilliance of said post. Hopefully, the flu is done at this house. H. was the first victim last Thursday. Sunday Brent came down with it then Monday and Tuesday S., A. and I came down with it. At this time we have one lone fa...

Summer is in full swing. I would love to report that with the end of school came a slowing in our schedule. That is what I would like to report. However, the truth is we seem to be as busy as ever. I'm guessing that is the consequence of all these growing children I find myself surrounded by. S. received a registration packet from the Jr. High she will be attending in the fall. She spent hours pouring over all the information she is very excited about everything. Well everything but the Jr. High boosters she needed. Lucky for us we were able to get her into the Dr.'s office quickly and get the dreaded shots over with. Though while at the Dr.'s office the Dr. had to assure her that to his knowledge no one had ever died from Jr. High boosters. She quickly picked up on the words, "To his knowledge." I think he found her anxiety a little amusing. Sadly I too found her anxiety amusing. It is amazing what we choose to stress, over think, and become a basket case over...

Before I am done writing this post the most recent garden pictures should be uploaded to flikr. With all the bike business going on around here I have not been very faithful with the garden post. Don't let that fool you. Brent and I tend over our little garden with the vigilance of new parents. The gardens are our babies. Being as all our actual babies are all big and do things like this when I try to take their pictures. She is such a bugger. Soon I am going to post a post on the boy craziness taking place in this house. That will show her not to hide from my lens. Lucky me I still have this one. He likes to calls all her boys, "goobers" I really like him. Notice anything different between the first and second pic. Yup the braces are off. He still has some pretty funky contraptions inside his mouth but for now the braces are off. What do you think? Are those pearlie whites worth the billion and three dollars that they cost? It it any wonder that Brent and I retreat...

Have you ever heard the phrase, “The elephant in the room?” Most of the time when this is said it is said in reference to a big issue that no one wants to speak of. So like an elephant in the room that no one wants s to acknowledge, for one reason or the other, the issue hangs. I am bringing this up because if I was you I would be curious. If I was you I would want to know. If I was you I would want to ask. Of course I wouldn’t ask. I wouldn’t want to offend you or maybe I’m not suppose to notice or maybe it just wouldn’t be nice. So like an elephant in the room I would try to ignore the issue. Wondering what the heck I’m talking about yet? Well I’m talking about the fact that I rode a bike for 103.5 miles, trained for seven months to do such a thing, spent endless hours exercising and well. . . I’m still rather fat. Oh no! I didn’t just say the “F” word did I? Yup! I said it you read correctly, I am still FAT!! The elephant in the room, metaphorically speaking of course. So what's...

Friday 9:40 am I have always lived my life defined. Meaning that I know who I am and I know my capabilities. I am perfectly aware of what I can and can not accomplish. Which is why I never do anything that I wont succeed. Also, a reason why I don't do a lot of things. A LOT! Among the definition of who I am is, "Not an athlete." Really, when we get down to it, it is the reason why I am freaking out about a 100 mile bike ride. Athletes ride a 100 miles, non-athletes aka Krissi do not ride 100 mile bike rides. It is very very simple. Yet here I am messing with my very own definition. I have every confidence that I will reach the end of the ride tomorrow. I have trained, I have worked, I have screwed with the very definition of who I am. Leaving the only option of finishing and dealing with what I have done to myself. I am positive that somewhere around 50 miles I will question and doubt my capability of finishing. I am positive that I will remember, "I am not athlete!...

There is enough going on to post a post. There is enough going on to post two post. There are flowers blooming, peas harvesting, children growing, zoo goings, and holiday celebrations. All of which are trapped inside me head. Waiting, waiting for the time that I can put two words together and think. Think without freaking out. Here is a joke for you Q. What happens when you challenge a type A, control freak, who enjoys environments in which she can control EVERYTHING, to ride in a 100 mile bike ride, in an environment where she has ZERO control? I don't have an answer to this joke yet. However, by Saturday night I'm sure I will have come up with something hilarious. Probably even more funny then me freaking out because there is sweat in my eyes. All right deep breath, deep breath. . . . Now as soon as I can stop hyperventilating all will be good. Do you want to know what I think is hilarious? There are actually people in the world who enjoy this kind of thing. They don't ...